The present invention relates to a method of air-conditioning and a system for the same.
A conventional type of air conditioner for railroad cars is described first as one example of a known system which is closely allied to the present invention. Ten or eleven small air conditioners are disposed and mounted on the ceiling of the passenger accommodation in a train car in the longitudinal direction thereof. Each air conditioner has four air outlets and four air inlets disposed in the ceiling. When this type of air conditioner operates to cool the passenger accommodation, namely, a space to be air-conditioned, cooled air is blown through each outlet to the center of the passenger accommodation, thereby cooling the same, and the air in this space is thereafter drawn in through the corresponding inlet. According to this method, two circulating flows are generated, as viewed in the transverse direction of the car. The position of each of these two circulating flows is fixed, and the wind velocity generally decreases as the circulating flow approaches the center thereof. The approximate head height of each passenger seat is about half the height of the passenger accommodation space, and the position of the seat which is nearest to the center of the circulating flow corresponds to the center of the circulating flow is such that the wind velocity at this seat is smaller than that at other seats. Therefore, the air-conditioning effect is reduced in this position, and the unpleasantness of the unsatisfactorily air-conditioned atmosphere experienced by the passenger on this seat is increased. Moreover, air-conditioning is not effected in regions to which the circulating flow fails to reach, since the position at which each circulating flow is generated is fixed. In particular, an excessively cooler layer of air stagnates in the vicinity of the floor in the central regions, so that a cold atmosphere region tends to form near the floor. It is thus difficult to provide uniform temperature distribution throughout the passenger accommodation and to assure pleasant conditions for the passengers.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 192663/1984, for example, discloses a related system of this type in which the wind blown through an outlet formed on the ceiling forms two circulating flows in the transverse direction of the car on both sides of the center thereof so that the passengers are not directly exposed to the flows. In this arrangement, the positions of two circulating flows in the transverse direction section are fixed so that a cold atmosphere region tends to occur near the floor surface, and a hot atmosphere region tends to occur near the ceiling at the time of heating. As the positions of these circulating flows are fixed, the cooling effect thereof is not stimulating to the human body and the passengers can not feel cool.
Thus, the conventional methods of air-conditioning are not fully able to provide proper air-conditioning effects.
These problems also occur in the case of air-conditioning in theaters or large-size refrigerators.